Thomas Boyd/The OregonianOregon's Chip Kelly is a hands-on head coach.

EUGENE _ There are many ways to approach being a head football coach on the college level.

There are chairman of the board types, who oversee everything from a distance. Remember Bear Bryant atop his tower?

Then there are those right in the middle of everything, like Oregon coach Chip Kelly.

Kelly, the Ducks' offensive coordinator before stepping up to replace Mike Bellotti last season, still calls the plays and remains intimately involved in the offensive game prep.

Kelly said yesterday he regularly works with the quarterbacks during practice.

"Usually, most of the time, I talk to the other quarterback, who is not in," Kelly said. "Helfy (offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich) is coaching the guy who is in. You'll see me talking to Nate (Costa) while Darron (Thomas) is taking snaps, 'What are you seeing?'

"If we have a pass play called for Nate, talking to Darron: 'What do you see? Where would you go if you were in on this play? Can you get a mental rep even though you're not taking this snap?' What's the thought process? 'Why did you see that.'

Kelly said he is more interested in gathering input than instructing.

"I don't like to tell them anything, to be honest with you," he said. "I want to know what they're thinking and explain to me what they're thinking. A lot of times when you tell them, you're just getting 'yeah, yeah,' and 'yeah yeah' in my mind means you have no idea what I'm talking about."

Kelly said the input is necessary for him as a play-caller. He doesn't want to be dialing up a play his guys don't feel comfortable executing.

"It doesn't matter if I like it," he said. "Because I'm not playing, and Helf isn't playing. It's, what do they like? But if they don't like it, I need an answer. Not just, 'because.' But, 'I don't like it because this is unclear to me or it makes me indecisive.' Now I know they have a grasp, and you can carry on a pretty good conversation with them and get an understanding of what their thought process is. It gives you a better understanding as you formulate your game plan."

The Ducks open the 2010 season at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in Autzen Stadium against New Mexico.

The R-G's George Schroeder: The NCAA blows it with the Masoli decision. By the way, I agree with this. Masoli earned his degree at Oregon. Let him play.

Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com weighs in on Masoli. As he points out, the NCAA is setting a troubling precedent by denying Masoli's request for a waiver because it determined the QB did not transfer for academic reasons. Instead, it decided, Masoli transferred to avoid disciplinary measures at Oregon, i.e. being kicked off the football team.

The UO track team has had a whole string of transfers from Ivy League schools who had exhausted their Ivy eligibility but still had one more year to compete under NCAA rules. Were they transferring for academic or athletic reasons? And how would you prove it, either way?

James Day of the Statesman Journal: NCAA clearly wants to make an example out of Masoli.